Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani campaigned on behalf of Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina and congressional candidate Van Tran today in the Little Saigon portion of Westminster.

“Carly Fiorina is a proven leader who shares my commitment to keeping our fellow Americans safe, restoring accountability to Washington and getting our economy back on track, and she has my full support, Giuliani said.

“Her record of success in creating jobs in the business world stands in stark contrast to Barbara Boxer’s 28 years of partisan grandstanding and unproductive leadership that failed to protect the people of California from a 12.4 percent unemployment rate and sky-high taxes that threaten families’ and small businesses’ ability to make ends meet,” he said.

Tran, an assemblyman, is trying to unseat Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Santa Ana, who was first elected in 1996. Sanchez is facing the strongest re-election challenge of any Southern California member of Congress, according to experts.

Sanchez also has a big name scheduled to campaign on her behalf this week — former President Bill Clinton, who is set to speak at a rally Friday in Santa Ana.

The Los Angeles County Democratic Party used the occasion of Giuliani’s visit on behalf of Fiorina to highlight their differences on gun control.

“We want to remind the former mayor of an admonition he gave to leaders all across the country when he took the very courageous stand of battling powerful interest groups on the critical issue of protecting the public safety for New Yorkers and for citizens all across the country.

“In 1995, Mayor Giuliani said, `There should be very, very few litmus tests, but someone who now voted to roll back the assault weapons ban would really be demonstrating that special interest politics mean more to them then life-or-death issues,” according to the statement from the Los Angeles County Democratic Party project known as CEO Watch.

The statement said Fiorina’s “positions on gun control are out of step with the majority of Californians who want to keep dangerous weapons off the street.”

Fiorina received an A rating from the National Rifle Association, based on her answers to a questionnaire from the group.

Fiorina agrees with opponents of the 1994 semi-automatic gun ban that various provisions of the bill outlawing guns with military appearance characteristics such as conspicuous grip, bayonet mount and a folding or telescoping stock “do not make those guns any more dangerous,” her campaign press secretary Andrea Saul said.

The federal assault weapons ban expired on Sept. 13, 2004. Fiorina “would review any legislation” to reinstate it “and make a decision based on its merits,” Saul told City News Service.

“Carly agrees with her there and thinks we should be focused on things like stopping the flow of these weapons through illegal channels from other countries and on strengthening penalties for gun-related crime,” Saul said.

During her first debate with Boxer in September called the federal assault weapons ban vague and ineffective.

“We have loads of laws and most of the time, criminals are breaking those laws and we are curtailing citizens’ lawful rights to carry guns,” Fiorina said. “The assault weapons ban is extremely arbitrary about what qualifies as an assault weapon.”

Boxer said such bans keep people safe.

“To go back to that dangerous yesterday makes no sense at all,” Boxer said.